


Heartaches by the Number

by SolemnSilence170



Category: Fallout: New Vegas, Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Bigotry & Prejudice, Cussing, Eventual Smut, Great Khan!Josh, Guns, If you know only one of these fandoms you can still understand the story, Khan shaming (sort of), M/M, Mike travelling around with his wolf friend, NCR!Chris, Other assorted weapons, Slow Burn, Violence, hopefully
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 04:34:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4990420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolemnSilence170/pseuds/SolemnSilence170
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where the characters from Until Dawn are trying to survive in the Fallout universe. Josh has lived among the Khans since the death of his sisters, and has been hired by the Legion to kill a skilled marksman in the NCR. But his determination will be put to the test when he accidentally gets attached... Climbing Class. (You don't need to know a lot about Fallout to get it! If you have any questions at all- most likely about the creatures- let me know!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heartaches by the Number

[POV Josh]

'Heartaches by the number, troubles by the score  
Everyday you love me less, each day I love you more  
Yes, I've got heartaches by the number, a love that I can't win  
But the day that I stop countin', that's the day my world will end  
Heartache number one was when you left me  
I never knew that I could hurt this way  
And heartache number two was when you came back again  
You came back but never meant to stay  
Yes, I've got-'

Static. Shit. The damn thing went out again. That’s the sixth time this week. The signal’s been spotty ever since that last storm blew through. I sat up from my ratty mattress. I lived in an old car of some sort. I didn’t know the brand and I didn’t care to know. Stuff like that didn’t matter anyway. It was a peeling orange and had no doors. But I had a stereo. Which was more than I could say for Jack and Diane. 

Jack and Diane were my mentors once upon a time. They taught me everything there was to know about how to whip up every drug on this side of the Mojave. We spent all of our spare time either scavenging for supplies or cooking up drugs here on Red Rock Canyon. And by the time we finished scraping together enough Jet, Med-X, and Psycho, our man Anders would run it out to sell it to the highest bidders. It was a pretty sweet setup, all in all. Especially since I got as much Jet and Med-X as I wanted. 

I know. Not the best idea to become an addict when literally everything crawling around the desert after a fucking apocalypse wants to kill you. But it’s been a tough couple of years. 

My sisters were dead. And it’s mostly my fault. I couldn’t stand looking my parents in the eye after what I had done, so one day I left. It was as simple as that. I walked and walked until my legs couldn’t carry me any farther than the mouth of Red Rock Canyon. I passed out only a couple miles off of a Deathclaw breeding ground. I honestly shouldn’t even be here right now. Those huge fuckers should’ve ripped me to shreds when I was right outside their doorstep, but I guess their bad eyesight really worked out to my advantage. A couple of Great Khans spotted me, and took me in as their own. Seven years later, and I’m still with them.

The Great Khans are pretty simple people. Sure, they have some extremely useful battle tactics and they taught me how to crack open a lock and pick a pocket with my hands closed, but they have their drawbacks. Despite being somewhat skilled at cooking up drugs, we don’t have a lot going for us medically. And guns are scarce. We’re pretty primitive and it bothers me that our allies, Caesar's Legion, are so advanced. They don’t usually let their people walk around with guns ablazing, but the ridiculous trials they put their men through more than make up for it. Those guys aren’t even human anymore. It puts us at a pretty huge disadvantage. And even worse, Caesar knows what our goal is in the upcoming battle against the New California Republic; to restore glory to our clan. The Legion can see our whole hand at this point.

I’ve been thinking about leaving the Khans. At least, for a while. I’ve been stuck here for too long, and the idea of roughing it out in the wastes became more and more appealing each day. But they wouldn’t have that and they probably wouldn’t let me return. We’re as close to family as you’ll get out here in the Wasteland, and intentionally breaching trust like that is basically a death sentence. I needed a good reason to go out in the Mojave on my own.

But why did I even want to go out there in the first place? It’s safe here. Jack and Diane were nice enough, and I got along fine with the others. I made some caps; enough to get me by. I ate well and haven’t gotten any radiation poisoning for a while. Our water here’s pretty shit, so sometimes we had Anders run out for the purified stuff. But lately, he hasn’t returned. It’s been a little longer than a week and we’ve started to worry. Maybe they’d let me go search for him.

Papa Khan’s the leader of the Khans. He made all of the heavy decisions and would talk with the Legionnaires. He’s a good man, but sometimes I felt like he gets too stuck in the ‘traditional  
way of things. After I finished up the latest shipment of Jet and took a hit, I decided to go talk to him about running out to find Anders.

I opened the long cabin door and stepped inside the great hall where we ate all our meals. This was home to me. Sitting here every day with Jack and Diane. This was my new family. I found purpose in keeping them alive. Selling drugs to addicts. It’s all I lived for. And a large part of me wasn’t sure that’s how I wanted it to be. I looked to the back of the room for Papa Khan. He had on his spiked helmet and leather armor as usual, and his dark beard glistened from the beer he was drinking. He was talking to a Legionnaire. 

The Legionnaires always looked laughably funny to me. They supposedly got their flamboyant battle armor from ‘Ancient Rome’ or whatever the fuck that had been. They pranced around in their red and silver skirts causing scenes and burning innocent people to death. They had slaves. They ran shifty businesses. Rumor had it, they even crucified people. They weren’t exactly people I wanted my family to be associated with, but Papa Khan was the one who decided that. I was just the local drug dealer. 

I approached the table hesitantly and both the Legionnaire and Papa Khan turned their attention to me. 

“Um,” I began. “I was wondering, since Anders hasn’t returned yet, if I should go out searching for him. I’d be willing to.”

Papa Khan looked at me, studying my face. “Are you sure he even needs you to come find him? It’d be pretty pointless to send you out looking for a man who has already returned, wouldn’t it?”

“Well, he was supposed to be here four days ago. He’s usually never late.” I insisted.

The Legionnaire was watching me. “Now hold on. I may have some use for someone like you. Tell me, what is your name?”

“Josh. Josh Washington.” I answered, looking him in the eye.

“Josh, yes. You were the one that took care of that nightstalker problem the last time I was here.”

I recalled it. A nightstalker had eaten one of our babies during the middle of the night. I tracked it back to its lair and slaughtered it before it could kill anyone else. It had been one of my finer moments as a professional drug dealer. 

“I could put someone like you to use.” The Legionnaire continued. His eyes glittered in the dying light from the sunset shining through the boarded up windows. “You see, there’s a man who’s been killing mass amounts of our finest Legionnaires. None of us can seem to pinpoint him for very long before he falls off the radar again. The only information we have on him is that he works for the NCR and is often on this side of the Mojave.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” I asked, getting a feeling where this was going.

“Because I want you to kill him. He’s caused far too much of a disturbance for Caesar. We cannot risk a man like him running rampant before our preparations for the war are complete. I want you to find him and bring me his head on a pike. A man of your caliber should have no problem handling a pesky freak with a rifle.”

This was a suicide mission and we all knew it. “No way.”

“Josh.” Papa Khan warned.

“No, there is no way I’m making it back alive! You know that.” I glared at the two of them.

“Josh.” The Legionnaire began. “It would be a suicide mission if you had no good incentive to drive you. That’s why I’m giving you one. If you successfully kill this man, the Legion will grant you 60,000 caps, immunity during the war, and a permanent position among our finest men. You’ll have everything you could possibly dream of. A big portion of New Vegas when we take it too. Everything you could want. You have my word.”

Fuck. He looked genuine about this. Fuck fuck fuck. This offer was too good to refuse. I was a pretty good sniper. If I saw him before he saw me, I could take him. Easily. I could give him the jump when he’s sleeping and knife him even. I’ve done it before. It’d be too simple.

Finally I spoke. “How am I supposed to find this man?” 

“He goes by the name of ‘Christopher’. He should probably be around other NCR troops somewhere close by. I’d start asking around if I was you.”

Christopher. Alright. I could find this guy. I could kill him. “How do I know you won’t just stab me in the back after I kill him?”

“You don’t.” The man replied solemnly. “Put your faith into Caesar’s word.”

I sniffed. “Fine. I’ll head out tomorrow morning.”

Honestly, I didn’t trust this. I really didn’t. But I was so bored of sitting around getting high all the time, I would’ve done it for free. 

I headed back to my truck. Outside, Jack and Diane were sitting around the bonfire smoking some cigars. They nodded to me in greeting.

“Want one?” Diane offered me her cigar. I took a drag and blew out a huff of smoke before sitting down on the log next to Jack.

A comfortable silence fell over us. While I liked these two just fine, the only thing we actually had in common was shooting up drugs. 

I spoke suddenly. “I’m heading out tomorrow.”

“What?!” Diane hissed, her and Jack giving me stunned glares. “Why?”

“That Legion guy asked me to go kill this NCR ranger. Apparently he’s been causing some trouble lately. I figured I’d try to find Anders while I’m at it too.” I explained.

“Well, don’t forget to take some drugs with you, dude. I know the Legion’s not happy with shit like that, but the last thing you need is to be going through hardcore withdrawal while a radscorpion’s hot on your trail.” Jack sniffed, uncapping some Med-X before stabbing the needle in his vain. He had a point.

“I won’t.” I promised, getting up from the log. “I’m heading out tomorrow morning. Better get some sleep before then.”

“Hey Josh?” Diane began. “Try not to die on us out there.”

I turned back to face her. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

I couldn’t sleep that night. I was too jittery; too thrilled by the prospect of being out there again. I honestly wasn’t very excited about running into ridiculously dangerous creatures everywhere- especially deathclaws and radscorpions- but even so, I wanted to run into different settlements. See different ways of life. The Great Khans were great, and I’m thankful that they took me in after I lost my family. I would be seriously fucked up if it wasn’t for all the drugs I’ve been on. But it was time to get out. Kill some of the things that killed my sisters.

I left as soon as the sun started rising. Diane had given me a silencer and a Stealth Boy for “any pickle you can’t get out of without a little help”. I thanked her and modded my .44 Scoped Magnum Revolver with the silencer. I had a decent amount of ammo, a combat knife, and my sniper rifle on me. I wore a pair of the Khan’s simple armor that was in pretty decent shape, some fingerless leather gloves, and my boots. Almost everything was covered in the red clay from the mountain. I grabbed handfuls of Jet, Med-X, and some Stimpacks for any emergencies and stuffed them in my knapsack. I also pocketed cans of food and some purified water for later.

I stepped out of camp quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone. I nodded farewell to the guards and walked on by, my ears honed in on any and all noises. All I could hear was the crunching of my own boots and the whistling howls of the wind as it snaked through the mountain tops. So far so good. I crept out from the shoulders of the mountain and stayed along the northern trail. The Poseidon Gas Station would be coming up soon, if memory served. At the time I had been passing through, nothing much lived there. But that had been back in 2274 and it had been seven years since then. Anything could be there now. I crouched low to the ground and peered through the scope in my rifle. Shit. A pack of dogs were prowling around there. They looked pretty ferocious and I really didn’t want to attract attention yet. I scampered behind the old building and was able to successfully pass without getting detected. 

I walked on a little farther before noticing that I wasn’t alone. Up ahead was a small community of people. They were wearing beaten, clearly home-made armor and were covered in grime. It was clear who they were. Fiends. They were almost always hostile to anyone, but they might leave me alone since I was wearing a Khan outfit. Two were patrolling around a little encampment surrounded by crumbling buildings. A thin trail of smoke told me there was a bonfire close by. If I was able to sneak by without being detected, there wouldn’t be any problems here…

I felt a beam from a plasma rifle graze the hair on my neck and broke into a sprint. FUCK. I ducked behind a large rock just as a Fiend cried, “Die fucker!!”

He must’ve been seriously tweaking out to attack me like that. He hurled himself behind some rubble and fired after me, drilling holes into the rock I was hiding behind. His friend, a female with a large spiked mohawk, started walking over to my position, firing all the way. I threw the barrel of my sniper rifle over the side of the rock and squinted through, landing a lethal headshot clean through the woman’s eye socket. I heard the other Fiend cry out in dismay over his fallen comrade. Hopefully the others that were inevitably around the bonfire didn’t hear that. 

I gritted my teeth and repositioned my rifle. He was just out of my line of shot. I reloaded and waited until he stuck his hand out from behind the rubble, gun in hand, before I aimed. He was firing blindly at my general direction, so I took my time to line up the shot. With a resounding boom, the bullet hit his hand and caused him to retract his weapon and scream. I didn’t waste any time standing up and running like hell. He yelled after me and a couple tense moments passed before bullets and beams started whizzing after me, but I got away virtually unscathed.

I ended up running until my legs started to feel like they would fall off. A couple firegeckos had tried sprinting after me at one point, but I ended up out running them. A gecko bite was the last thing I needed right now. Out in the distance, I could see a small rackety building up ahead. The wind whistled in my ears. 

It was too quiet. There had to be something terribly wrong here. What direction was I even headed at this point? I had lost my bearings fleeing. I knew that if I headed south from Red Rock Canyon, I would be killed instantly. But I couldn’t recall why… 

I heard something. Just for an instant, but it was here somewhere. I swear to God I heard something and it wasn’t the wind. Was my mind playing tricks on me? I wish I had a few Stealth Boys on me instead of only one. 

I walked slowly, listening intently to my surroundings. There was no way it was just me here. I knew it. There was a gorge up ahead. A large dip in the land. Maybe I could take refuge there for a while.

But as I got closer to the crater, I realized with horror what was here with me. I froze and held in my breath. Three pairs of tan, nearly pale horns rose up from below. I even caught a glimpse of a white, blind eye. Jesus fucking Christ. I had stumbled upon a deathclaw nest. There was no way I was getting out of this alive. 

With bated breath, I backed up as slowly as I could. Sweat trickled down my back as heat waves rose from the scorched earth. This couldn’t be one of my hallucinations, right? This was actually real?

I heard their raspy breathing and took that as my yes. I must have accidentally started heading south and had not realized. While there were NCR camps down by the end of the map, a shit ton of deathclaws stood between me and them. That was one of the many reasons why Papa Khan never had any trouble from the NCR groups in the south. Not that the NCR usually open fired on us, but we were definitely not in their good graces for dealing chems and working with Caesar. 

I could outrun Fiends maybe, but the deathclaws were entirely out of my league. Maybe if I had a grenade launcher or a Fat Man or something. But with the weapons I currently had, surviving was a pipe dream. I had heard rumors of a settlement called Sloan scraping by in the middle of this deathclaw hellhole (this must’ve been Quarry Junction. That little wooden building I had seen before must’ve been the Junction 15 Railway Station), but there was no way I’d make it to them without knowing exactly where they were. 

I continued backing up, trying to devise a plan of some sort. Okay. What if… There’s three of them. What if I back up, try to get up on higher ground, and start sniping one of those fuckers? I could probably pick it off before it got me. But the other two would most certainly hear me. Deathclaws may be nearly blind, but their ears were as sharp as tacks. Maybe I could run off immediately after before they could pinpoint me? No, no. That was extremely wishful thinking. Fuck, okay. I have one Stealth Boy. Instant invisibility. But would it really do me any good against some deathclaws? Maybe if I’m quiet enough, I could just use the Stealth Boy and maybe try to sneak by. It was my best shot.

Still deciding to try and climb up to the highest part of the hill, I silently put my rifle in its holster on my back and grabbed the Stealth Boy out of my knapsack, grasping it firmly. How do you even activate these things? Do they just immediately activate when they go on your wrist or did I have to press something? I held it at the ready as I wandered up the side of the hill. I’d need to somehow get it to work in three, two…

Right as a deathclaw’s eyes fell on to me from below, I snapped the Stealth Boy on my wrist and felt an almost liquid rush course through me. I looked down at my body and saw nothing. I had vanished thanks to a couple of tricks from reflecting light. As quickly and as quietly as I could, I scuttled across the top of the hill and onto another. Where the FUCK was this settlement supposed to be?! My mind was screaming as I hurried on. I attracted a bit of attention from a deathclaw, but not enough for it to be following me.

After I passed the three, I figured I was in the clear. But oh no. There were more. So much more. Four babies and a massive mother deathclaw stood between me and whatever lay ahead. My odds were far worse than I had anticipated. I was starting to break into a panicked fast-walk. No fucking way was I getting out of here. NO FUCKING WAY.

I was halfway pass the mother when I felt the liquid feeling of the Stealth Boy start to subside. No. NO NO NO this was not happening. I broke into a horrified jog, kicking rocks and breathing scared huffs through my nose. I was so extremely dead.

The mother’s head snapped over in my direction along with two of her children. The ground shook as she started to get up. 

Fucking Christ! 

I wanted so badly to scream for help, but that was the last thing that was going to save me. I settled for breaking into a furious sprint instead, hurling my body ahead with all of my remaining energy. Adrenaline pumped heavily throughout my veins, refusing to let me give in to death yet. My heart hammered in my chest as I heard the mother chase after me.

I snatched my .44 Magnum out of its holster as I continued running, throwing my hand behind my back and shooting rounds wildly. It was hard to say if any hit their mark or not. I was a pretty fast runner, but nothing could outrun an enraged deathclaw. I felt a claw rake across my back savagely.

I was just starting to cave in to my despair and the new wave of pain when suddenly I saw a billow of smoke a ways away. Sloan?! Please God, tell me that was Sloan. Or anyone strong enough to kill all of these deathclaws for me. I tore through the desert, madly trying as hard as I could to get myself to the smoke as swiftly as humanly possible. The closer I got, the more crazed I was.

Finally, about a half a mile off, I heard a man cry out. Some gunshots were fired- thankfully not at me. I continued tearing across the wastes as more and more bullets sailed through the air. I spotted the men that had come to my rescue and began running towards them. NCR officers, by the look of it. One of the men was standing on top of the ruins of an old car. After I got close enough for them to start eyeing me suspiciously, I turned around and began reloading my revolver, backing up to stand side-by-side them. They had taken out three of the babies and were currently firing at the mother. I aimed my revolver and shot at her with deft hands. A few of my bullets hit her around the snot and she let out a raspy howl of pain. With the aid of the three men, we were able to dispatch of her and the remaining baby. Thank God that nightmare was over. 

“Jesus fuck, what are you doing here?” One of the men asked me, looking me up and down. He had a gallant look to him; definitely had the ‘all-American’ air. His dark brown hair just barely fell into his eyes and he had a five o'clock shadow. His muscles rippled as he gripped his shotgun, peering at me in interest. He looked weathered but still somehow youthful, which sort of amazed me considering what all was out here.

“I’m on the run.” I lied, remembering that I was still wearing my Great Khan armor. “I decided that I wanted to leave my camp after they started bringing all of these Legates around. I heard a rumor that there were a couple of settlements down here, so I decided I’d give it a shot and check it out.”

“What were you hoping to find here?” The man was testing me. 

“I’m looking for my sister. I heard she was last seen around a guy named Christopher.”

“Well, I don’t know anything about that, but I do know Chris personally. I could point you in his direction. I’m Lieutenant Mike Munroe.” He stuck out his hand in offering.

“Josh Washington.” We shook on it.

“Nice to meet you, Josh. I’ll tell you more about where Chris is back at base. That wound looks like it needs fixing. Although, I can’t say I quite trust you. Especially since you almost lead a hoard of deathclaws here.” Mike let out a bellow of laughter. “Although, you did look pretty fucking stupid running away with a bunch of those fuckers on your heels.”

I grinned, picturing it. As much as I hated to admit it, I was kind of a small guy. 

“Shut up, bro.”

“I like you, Josh.” Mike snickered. “You have one of those faces, you know? Even if you’re an ex-Khan, I don’t think you’re a bad sort.”

Mike led me and the other two NCR troopers to wherever it was they were holed up. 

Honestly, it wasn’t much of a sight for sore eyes. There was a whopping four makeshift houses and a bunch of nothing else. A domesticated molerat lumbered around in a circle. This must’ve been Sloan. Or whatever was left of it. Mike opened the door to one of the two houses and gestured for me to follow.

The inside wasn’t much better than the out, but it was shelter nonetheless. I sat down on a ripped up sofa. Mike joined me after he had rummaged around for some medical supplies. I thought about treating it myself, but decided that I’d save my own personal supplies for the future.

“So, Chris.” Mike began, sticking the needle of a stimpack into my arm. “What do you know about him?”

“Literally nothing except that my sister fancied him and that he was in the NCR.” I lied as he unravelled some old ace bandages. “Is he still in it?”

“Is he!” Mike grabbed a bottle of whiskey on the table in front of us and poured us some shots after sterilizing and wrapping my wound. “He’s our very best trooper! I’ve asked him so many times if he’d consider becoming a lieutenant like me, but he always refuses. I think the idea of being the one calling the shots makes him nervous. It’s just- well, he’s my closest friend in the NCR! It’d be nice if I could actually see him sometimes. But he always insists on going out alone on these ridiculous suicide missions, thinking he’s saving the world or something if he does all of the heavy-lifting around here.” Mike sniffed. “I think he seriously underestimates us sometimes.”

Well. This Mike guy was proving to be more helpful than I originally thought. It’s a good thing Mike was so naive, trusting a random ex-Khan based on how I looked. Maybe he thought I felt indebted to him or something.

“Well, I can say I definitely don’t underestimate you after what happened out there. If you guys hadn’t of come along when you did, I would be so fucking dead right now.”

“Hey, you should consider joining up with the NCR.” Mike suggested. “We’re a pretty good lot. And you’ll only have to go through a couple weeks’ training. We need as many bodies as we can get if we’re going to royally buttfuck Caesar in this upcoming war.”

“I’ll consider it. But for right now, I gotta find Chris. And my sister.” I added.

“Right, well. Currently, Chris should still be located down by the Mojave Outpost. Do you have a map on you?” 

“No, I don’t.” I admitted. There weren’t exactly a bunch laying around for Papa to just hand out.

“Right, well. Here.” Mike stood up and pulled one out of his pocket before laying it across the table. “Here’s Sloan on the map.” He pointed. “You’ll want to head down the highway here south until you get to a fork. Along the road this way are a bunch of Powder Ganger settlements, so if you’re traveling with me, you should seriously watch out for them. You probably know how much they hate NCR.”

I did. Even from way up in our mountains, us Khans knew how the Powder Gangers had recently escaped from the NCR’s prisons and had formed their own organized rebellion. 

“Well, either way, once you get to the fork in the road down here, you’ll want to head southwest. There’s a couple’a radscorpions. Couple’a fire ants. But all in all, you’ve already hit the worst of it. It’s easy going from here.” Mike grinned. “Even with that said, you should come with me. I was gonna head down there on my own to make sure everything’s running smoothly at the Outpost anyways. It’d be better with another pair of eyes on the road.”

There was absolutely no way I’d be refusing his offer. I gave myself a moment before responding, so it’d appear I’d thought it over. “Alright, that sounds fine by me. What time were you thinking of heading out?”

“Dawn, probably. If that’s alright with you.” 

“Yeah, dawn’s perfect.”

“You get some rest until then, okay?” Mike nudged me with his shoulder before downing his shot glass and standing up. “You can pretty much sleep on any of these beds. This is the miner's’ barracks, after all. If you hear any noises outside, it’s probably that molerat out there, Snuffles. And if it isn’t, well… Stay inside anyway. I’ll wake you when it’s time to head out.”

Mike left me alone in the room. I stood up and immediately began snooping through drawers and around furniture. There was mostly nothing of interest, but I did find two books that caught my eye. An issue of Dean’s Electronics and even better, Duck and Cover!. I curled up on a bed at random and began flipping through the books until I fell into a fitful sleep.

In my dreams, my sisters were talking to me. Just talking. Nothing else, really. But they way they were talking haunted me. As if they were looking down at me in disgust. Not that I could really blame them. I would be pretty disgusted too. Hannah’s glasses glinted ominously in the light and Beth held a hand up to cover her laughter. It was only that, but even so. When Mike woke me up I was in a cold sweat and immediately threw myself out of bed, my hand gripping the combat knife in its holster.

“Whoa whoa whoa.” Mike raised his hands in a calming gesture, like you would with a wild dog. “Easy, man. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Sorry.” I apologized, recovering from my episode quickly. “It’s hard to sleep, you know?”

“Oh yeah, I totally get it bro.” Mike sighed, grabbing a corner of his shirt and swinging his gun around to clean the dust off of the scope. “You ready to hit the road?”

“Yeah.” I grabbed my knapsack, threw in the two books I hawked, and stepped out the rickety front door.

As soon as we were outside, Mike let out a sharp whistle. I froze, figuring he was onto my bluff, but then a moment later a wolf padded up to us. It was big and light grey, an uncommon color for this region.

“You don’t have a problem with dogs, do you?” Mike asked me, ruffling up the wolf’s ears.

I wasn’t particularly fond of dogs, honestly, but any extra company out here was welcome. “Nah.”

We headed south at a pretty brisk pace, stopping only momentarily to trade with a caravan. I really should’ve saved more than 600 caps, but it was more than enough for some fresh food that wasn’t canned. MIke and I ate while we walked, chatting occasionally in-between bites of squirrel bits. Considerably less things tried to mess with us now that there were three of us, but it didn’t take long before we heard gunshots up ahead.

Mike and I exchanged a look before lowering into a crouch and stalking towards an old billboard sign. The commotion was farther ahead on the road, and there was no fucking way I wanted to avoid it by ducking back into deathclaw territory. I’d take a bullet wound or two any day over another one of those fuckers.

As we ducked behind the billboard, I could make out their outfits. Some powder gangers were taking shots at a couple of cazadors. Panicked, I looked around for the hive, only to notice that they had already taken out all of the remaining insects. Their bodies were crumpled underneath their hive, and the oozing joints were enough to make me feel like hurling. I took some shallow breaths and trained my eyes back on the powder gangers.

Two were lying dead on the ground, and the remaining three were just finishing off the last cazador. A man hissed as the cazador landed a hit to his shoulder before shooting it between the eyes with his gun. 

“We should probably off them.” Mike whispered to me. He was right. They looked pretty menacing, despite being covered in bug guts and bleeding wounds. The one that got stung in the shoulder looked pretty worse for wear, but the tall man and stouty woman looked like they would put up a good fight. I had to off one of them before they noticed us.

I pulled out my rifle, lined up the shot, and pulled the trigger. A split second later, a stream of blood blossomed out from the tall man’s temple and he hit the ground with a thud. The other two spun around, wildly looking for their assailant before honing in on the billboard sign.

Not a moment too soon, Mike sprung out and began unloading shot after shot into the two remaining powder gangers. They fell to the ground dead. 

I looked at Mike and he gave me a curt nod in satisfaction. We worked pretty well together. A serene sense of camaraderie washed over me as we padded over together to the corpses. Mike nudged one of the bodies with his foot as his dog sniffed it. 

We both decided that the remainder of the journey would go considerably smoother if we took their clothes. I felt around in their pockets and knapsacks for anything of value. Two varmint rifles, a cowboy repeater… couple sticks of dynamite, some NCR money, and some cans of Pork n’ Beans. I pocketed the NCR money before Mike noticed and handed him the dynamite and the repeater. I’d pawn off the rest for money. 

As an afterthought, I walked over to a cazador corpse. They revolted me beyond belief, but there was something I was after. When Mike was busy adjusting his belt, I stooped down and ripped off one of its poison glands, wrapping it up in some old cloth as it started to ooze. It might be my only way of casually killing Chris later, and Mike if I had to. Cazador venom was lethal if ingested as is.

After we had looted and changed, we spent the rest of the day walking. It was exhausting, but we covered a lot of ground. I shot up some Med-X and Jet whenever Mike would scout ahead. Best for him not to know he’s travelling with a junkie. When it started to get dark, I began to worry. I didn’t really want to travel around in the dark when God know’s what could be following us. But Mike insisted that we were getting really close to the next ‘town’, Primm. 

I had been to Primm before once when I was a boy. It wasn’t super memorable aside from the giant run-down roller coaster at the Bison Steve Hotel, but life had been simpler back then, so I was fond of the idea of seeing it again.

We managed to reach Primm just as the sun left. There were a ton of Powder Gangers running around, which was new from the last time I’d been here, but they paid us no mind in our new clothes. Mike and I were able to settle for the night on the crumbled second floor of a half-destroyed apartment. We lit a fire in a trash can and drifted off into the darkness.

A loud explosion woke us later that night. It was maybe four, five o’clock now. A decent night’s sleep out here, honestly. Although the mosquitoes had eaten us alive. 

The explosion had come from across the street. A couple of powder gangers and NCR officials were duking it out with grenades and dynamite. The scent of gunpowder and smoke wafted up to us. 

Mike was already awake and on his feet too, and I pulled out my sniper as he chucked one of the dynamite after the powder gangers. He managed to hit two, kill one. I pulled the trigger and dropped another with a head wound, reloading and searching for the next target. The NCR troops were surprised by the anonymous aid, but didn’t question it as they took down some more of the former prisoners. After all the commotion subsided, Mike and I shrugged out of the Powder Ganger armor and back into our normal clothes. 

“Should we go down there?” I asked him. He shrugged.

“Nah, let’s just let ‘em be. They’re stationed here until the area’s secure, and we gotta keep moving forward if we want to make it to the Mojave Outpost by sundown. In fact, let’s eat something and head out now.”

I heated up the can of Pork n’ Beans over our trash can fire as Mike downed a can of Cram. When we were done with our meals, we picked up our gear and headed out right as the sun was beginning to rise again, taking care to avoid any remaining Powder Gangers. 

We walked for hours on end, pausing only once to let a large group of Powder Gangers pass by. And by the end of the day, two huge statues of men shaking hands could be seen ahead. We had finally reached the Mojave Outpost like Mike had predicted.

This was it. This was where Chris was supposed to be. I had found him, after what had felt like forever. I could get a decent sum of money and become a member of the Legion, easy. The toughest part would be trying to make it back to Red Rock, honestly.

“Chris is probably over at the bar.” Mike nodded over to a fenced area. NCR troops and rangers were crawling all over the place. A few gave me a suspicious look, but seeing me with Mike seemed to be enough to ease their minds. We went through the fence and entered the bar.

About six or seven NCR troops were inside, emerging from the sleeping area over to the left. A few men were seated around the actual bar itself, drinking and laughing. It was a pleasant atmosphere that reminded me of the great hall back at Red Rock. Mike led me to the bar and someone cried out at us.

“Mikey!”

A man stood up from the bar and threw his hands in the air dramatically before coming over to greet us. He stood out among the NCR troops because instead of wearing their normal armor, he had on a roving trader outfit, and each of the ridiculously excessive pockets seemed to be stuffed with something or other. Despite his attire, it was quite obvious he had a lot of muscle underneath all of those layers. He had dirty blonde hair styled in a faux-hawk and a pair of black-rimmed glasses pushed up on his nose. One of the lenses was cracked. But despite all of his weird choices for attire, the thing that stood out the most was the Pipboy strapped to his wrist. Well, wasn’t he fancy? I thought a little bitterly. 

“I figured you were dead! You took your sweet time out there!”

“I had to pick up this guy here.” Mike nudged me. “He was busy getting clawed up by a bunch of deathclaws.”

The faux-hawk guy looked me up and down. “A Khan? You risked your ass for a Khan? How many were there?”

Who the fuck did this guy think he was? NCR freaks like him infuriated me.

“A mother and four kids. But anyway, this guy claims to of heard of you through his sister.” Mike changed the subject, grabbing a stool and waving down the bar tender. 

So this guy was Chris, huh? He certainly didn’t look like much. Kinda nerdy, honestly. We sat down on either side of Mike. 

“He does, huh?” Chris eyed me. “Why is someone like you searching for me to begin with?”

I took a moment to respond, inwardly struggling with how I wanted to take this conversation. Chris seemed like someone who appreciated being direct. 

“I wanna join the NCR.” I blurted out. “I’m so sick of the way things work at Red Rock. All the drug runs, all the violence and vulgarity. It’s just not me. I left, thinking I’d try to find my sister. I remembered she mentioned someone named Chris down here, so I figured I’d check it out.” I paused, letting it sink in. “Do you happen to know a Hannah?”

“Hannah? No, I don’t know anyone by that name. You said she was a part of the NCR?” Chris asked.

“No, I don’t think so. She used to work up at Freeside for a bit. Said she had quite the secret thing for a ‘Chris’.” I was really playing this up, but both Chris and Mike seemed to be buying it.

Mike laughed. “Such a shame, too! Chris here is the absolute wrong person to fall for!”

“Mike.” Chris hissed, punching him on the shoulder.

“What? It’s true!” He chuckled. “The bartender here knows it better than anyone!”

The bartender seemed to take that as a cue and finally came over to take our orders. She was a pretty woman; long red hair and a round, kind face.

“What’ll it be, Chris?” She was glancing shyly over at him and smirking. Chris seemed very uncomfortable.

“How about a bottle of whiskey to start the night off?” Mike broke in.

She responded, “Sure thing.” And reached under the table before popping it open and pouring us shots. “It’s on me.”

“Thanks Ash.” Chris finally spoke, giving her a little grimace.

As she stalked off, Mike said to me under his breath, “Chris isn’t really much of a ladies man, you dig? He’s not super into the whole ‘tits and vagina’ combo.” Mike raised his voice. “Isn’t that right, Chris?”

“Isn’t what right?” 

“Exactly.” 

“Dude, just shut up. Whatever you’re telling him over there.”

“So anyway,” I cut in. “How can I join the NCR? Are there some rites of passage or something?”

“Well, I can send word up to base that we have a new recruit. But you’ll need to head over to Camp Golf and go through a couple weeks of training before we can officially use you.” Mike replied. “I wouldn’t be able to take you there myself; I have a lot of things to clean up over here that should keep me busy for a while, but if Chris’s willing, he’d be able to point you in the direction.”

This was perfect. If I could get Chris away from the NCR and isolated, I could pick him off without the others knowing. Make it look like something got him. It’d be so ridiculously easy.

“Well, as long as you’re alright with making a few detours, I wouldn’t mind leading you there. I gotta head over to Camp Searchlight and check out the situation in Boulder City anyway. Basically along the way.” Chris threw back a shot. 

“Then it’s settled.” I threw mine back too. 

This was going to be some road trip all right.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope this story is comprehensible so far! I know I was a little vague about the creatures and groups mentioned, but I promise I'll get more in-depth with what they are in later chapters. If there's anything that sticks out in a good or bad way, let me know. Thank you for reading :)


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